Stories. Stories are so fascinating. The stories people tells us. The stories we tell others. And most interesting, the stories we tell ourselves. This week’s “Share the Love Sunday” is a blog post over at Zen Habits: To Create a Habit, Tell a Good Story, written by Leo Babauta. Just like when we offer ourselves grace, when we make an effort to tell ourselves a good — new — story we have the opportunity to change a moment, our day or even our lives. From the article:
Try this:

Ask yourself how you feel about the habit you’re creating. Are you psyched about it? Are you discouraged? Looking forward to it or dreading it? Feel strong about it or feel like you’re doing lousy? Is it a wonderful experience for you or are you ploughing through the suckiness? This is all an indicator of what story you’re telling yourself.

Start creating a better story by focusing on the things you love about the habit. You could focus on how much you hate the habit, or you could focus on what you love. It’s your choice. Find things to appreciate about the habit. Look at your successes and think, “Man, that’s awesome that I’ve done those things.”

This is not to say that you should only think positive thoughts, or that you should ignore the negative. But if your story is on the balance more positive than negative, you’ll be more resilient. You’ll be able to handle the negative stuff with grace, because you have a positive feeling about the habit.